They took to the stage with a squeal to make the nation's dogs fear for their ears – and a result to make Britain's documentary-makers wonder where it all went wrong. For the unlikely winner of last night's National Television Award for most popular factual programme was ITV's Loose Women; the show's nomination illustrated by a clip of Carole McGiffin asking where Robbie Williams was going to take her on holiday.

Quite how that happened, I cannot fathom. The only small mercy is that the NTAs didn't call the category best factual programme - although what that says about the esteem in which they hold the members of the public who voted for the award I'm not quite sure; it's basically having a public vote and then adding a disclaimer to it. In any case, regardless of whether the award is for the most popular, best, outstanding or any other kind of programme, this fact remains: of all the great wealth of factual programming on British television, a show that featured a chat with Robbie Williams was the one that won.

It isn't that Loose Women is necessarily bad television. It is not, admittedly, my favourite programme, but there are plenty of women – and indeed, men – who are happy to defend it. What do they say? That the show is fun; it's a bit of a laugh; sometimes it's a bit informative. Which it might well be – but what Loose Women is not is the cream of British factual television. I'd argue that it's not even factual television full stop: it's an entertainment format, a factual entertainment format at a push.

And yes, that's perhaps pernickety. But the shortlist for most popular factual programme also included Come Dine With Me, Top Gear, and The Apprentice. Where were all the documentaries? The amazing natural history programmes? The history series? The culture shows? They might not have the audience to compete with Loose Women in a public vote, but to exclude them entirely from last night's award ceremony by having just one huge factual category doesn't just do viewers a disservice - it does television one, too. Bafta gets this right, with awards for best specialist factual, best documentary, best feature, and best current affairs. The NTAs clearly can't adopt them all but even one extra factual category – and I don't mean this year's most popular star travel documentary, a ludicrous award if ever I heard one - might produce rather more credible results.